Tài liệu Using warm up activities to improve the students’ speaking skills an action research project at dong nai technology university .

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Lê Thị Hồng Tuyến USING WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HANOI, 2019 VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Lê Thị Hồng Tuyến USING WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D. HANOI, 2019 DECLARATION BY AUTHOR I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that has not been submitted anywhere for any award. I certify that the thesis “Using Warm-up Activities to Improve the Students’ Speaking Skills: An Action Research Project at Dong Nai Technology University” is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially. Author’s Signature Lê Thị Hồng Tuyến Approve by SUPERVISOR Dr. Bùi Thị Thục Quyên Date: …………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to many people for their thoughtful help given to me in doing this study. Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Bui Thi Thuc Quyen for her insightful comments and suggestions on various parts of this thesis. My thanks also go to all my lecturers from the Foreign Languages Department – Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for their useful and interesting lectures to finish the study. I am most thankful to my colleague – Ms. Pham Thi Kim Tuoi and the students at Dong Nai Technology University for their support in data collection. Finally, my special thanks go to my family, for their love and support throughout this project. Without their encouragement I could not have completed this thesis. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION BY AUTHOR ........................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIFGURES ............................................................................. viii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS........................................................ ix LIST OF ABBREVIATION USED IN THE THESIS .......................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 1 1.1Rationale ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Aims of the study ............................................................................. 2 1.3 Research questions ........................................................................... 2 1.4 Scope of the study ............................................................................ 2 1.5 Significance of the study ................................................................... 3 1.6 Research methods ............................................................................. 3 1.7 Structure of the study ........................................................................ 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................... 5 2.1 Nature of language skills and oral communication .......................... 5 2.1.1 Nature of language skill ................................................................ 5 2.1.2 Oral communication ...................................................................... 5 2.2 Speaking skills ................................................................................. 6 2.2.1 Concepts of speaking .................................................................... 6 2.2.2 The importance of speaking .......................................................... 6 2.2.3 Characteristics of speaking skills .................................................. 8 2.2.4 Speaking problems ........................................................................ 9 2.3 Warm – up activities ........................................................................ 11 iii 2.3.1 Definitions of warm – up activities ............................................... 11 2.3.2 Principles of warm – up activities ................................................. 11 2.3.3 The advantages of warm – up activities ........................................ 13 2.3.3.1 Warm – up activities help create a good rapport ........................ 13 2.3.3.2 Warm – up activities help motivate students ............................. 14 2.3.3.3 Warm – up activities help attract attention ................................. 15 2.3.4 The disadvantages of warm-up activities ...................................... 16 2.4 Previous studies ................................................................................ 17 2.5 Summary .......................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ...................................................... 21 3.1 Research design ................................................................................. 21 3.1.1 Definitions of Action Research ..................................................... 21 3.1.2 Action research procedures ........................................................... 22 3.2 The context of the study ................................................................... 27 3.2.1 The teacher .................................................................................... 28 3.2.2 Participants .................................................................................... 28 3.2.3 The course book ............................................................................ 29 3.3 Procedures of the current study ........................................................ 29 3.5 Data collection instruments .............................................................. 30 3.5.1 The pre – test and post – test ......................................................... 30 3.5.2 The questionnaire .......................................................................... 31 3.5.3 Class observation .......................................................................... 32 3.6 Summary .......................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .............................. 33 4.1 Research question 1: Students’ thoughts about English speaking ... 33 4.1.1 The difficulty level of English speaking ....................................... 33 4.1.2 Students’ difficulties in English speaking lessons ........................ 34 iv 4.2 Research question 2: students’ attitudes toward using warm – up activities in English speaking lessons .................................................... 35 4.2.1 How much students liked warm – up activities in general ........... 35 4.2.2 The effectiveness of warm – up activities in speaking lessons ..... 36 4.2.3 Students’ difficulties when participating in warm – up activities 37 4.2.4 Suggestions from students to improve warm –up activities ......... 38 4.2.5 Warm – up activities in speaking lessons preferred by students .. 39 4.3 Research question 3: revised warm – up activities and their effects on students .............................................................................................. 40 4.3.1 Word jumble race .......................................................................... 41 4.3.1.1 Data from Questionnaire 2 .......................................................... 41 4.3.1.2 Data from the observation sheets ................................................ 43 4.3.2 Remembering pictures .................................................................. 45 4.3.2.1 Data from Questionnaire 2 .......................................................... 45 4.3.2.2 Data from the observation sheets ................................................ 47 4.3.3 Mimic ............................................................................................ 49 4.3.3.1 Data from the Questionnaire 2 .................................................... 49 4.3.3.2 Data from the observation sheets ............................................... 51 4.3.4 Words of mouth ............................................................................. 53 4.3.4.1 Data from Questionnaire 2 .......................................................... 53 4.3.4.2 Data from observation sheets ..................................................... 55 4.4 The results from the pre – test and post – test .................................. 56 4.4.1 Data from the pre – test ................................................................. 58 4.4.2 Data from the post – test ............................................................... 59 4.5 Discussion ........................................................................................ 60 4.6 Summary .......................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................ 63 v 5.1 Recapitulation .................................................................................. 63 5.1.1 Students’ difficulties when taking part in English speaking lessons .................................................................................................... 63 5.1.2 Students’ attitudes toward the use of warm – up activities in English speaking lessons ........................................................................ 63 5.1.3 The effects of revised warm – up activities on students in English speaking lessons ..................................................................................... 64 5.2 Concluding remarks ......................................................................... 65 5.3 Implication ....................................................................................... 65 5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies ................................ 66 5.4.1 Limitations .................................................................................... 66 5.4.2 Suggestions for further studies ...................................................... 67 REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 68 Appendix 1a: Survey questionnaire 1 (English version) ....................... I Appendix 1b: Survey questionnaire 1 (Vietnamese version) ................ IV Appendix 2a: Survey questionnaire 2 (English version) ....................... VII Appendix 2b: Survey questionnaire 2 (Vietnamese version) ................ VII Appendix 3: Observation sheet .............................................................. X Appendix 4: Pre – test ............................................................................ XI Appendix 5: Post – test .......................................................................... XIII Appendix 6: Rubrics of the pre – test .................................................... XV Appendix 7: Rubrics of the post – test ................................................... XVI vi ABSTRACT For some recent years, English has played more and more important part in Vietnam, and it has been taught in many levels of Vietnamese schools as a compulsory subject. So far, there have been remarkable changes in the way of teaching and learning English speaking. However, students’ speaking skills are still far from satisfaction. How to improve students’ performance in speaking has been a big question for every English teacher. It is also the question that has inspired the researcher to investigate the use of warm – up activities to improve her students’ speaking skills. In attempt to fulfill this thesis, there were two classes which attended in this research. Class A studied English speaking skills with warm – up activities but class B studied without warm – up activities. The final results were very surprising. Warm – up activities basically have had a very little effect on students’ speaking skills. From the final results, some suggestions have been drawn out to help use warm – up activities more effectively. It is hoped that this thesis will be found of value to those who have great interest in using warm – up activities in speaking lessons. vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Principles of warm – up activities 12 Figure 2: Kemmis and McTaggart’s action research spiral 23 Figure 3: Elliot’s action research model 25 Figure 4: O’Leary’s cycles of research 26 viii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Page Chart 1: The effectiveness of WAS in speaking lessons 36 Table 1: Students’ thoughts about the difficulty level of English Speaking 34 Table 2: Students’ difficulties in English speaking lessons 34 Table 3: How students feel about WAS 35 Table 4: Students’ difficulties when joining WAS in speaking Lessons 37 Table 5: What the teacher should do to improve WAS 38 Table 6: WAS in speaking lessons preferred by students 39 Table 7: The effectiveness of Word jumble race 41 Table 8: Strengths and weaknesses of Word jumble race 42 Table 9: Students’ participation level in speaking lesson with Word jumble race 43 Table 10: Word jumble race 43 Table 11: The effectiveness of Remembering pictures 45 Table 12: Strengths and weaknesses of Remembering pictures 46 Table 13: Students’ participation level in speaking lesson with Remembering pictures 47 ix Table 14: Remembering pictures 47 Table 15: The effectiveness of Mimic 49 Table 16: Strengths and weaknesses of Mimic 49 Table 17: Students’ participation level in speaking lesson with Mimic 50 Table 18: Mimic 51 Table 19: The effectiveness of Words of mouth 53 Table 20: Strengths and weaknesses of Words of mouth 53 Table 21: Students’ participation level in speaking lesson with Words of mouth 54 Table 22: Words of mouth 55 Table 23: The results of class A 57 Table 24: The results of class B 57 Table 25: The results from the pre – test 58 Table 26: The results from the post – test 59 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS AR: Action Research CLT: Communicative Language Teaching DNTU: Dong Nai Technology University WAS: Warm – up Activities xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In Vietnam, English has been considered one of the most necessary subjects for students in all levels of educational system. Nevertheless, how to teach English in general and speaking skill effectively in particular is still controversial. Moreover, speaking skill is believed the most essential skill because it is the most effective tool to carry out a conversation. Thanks to the CLT, many changes have been made in classroom’s atmosphere to help learners involve actively and positively during the class time. Hence, WAS are also highly recommended in English speaking classes because they stimulate students to engage and speak in English (Lassche, 2005; Hadfield, 2000; Robertson & Acklam, 2000). In fact, at DNTU, although teachers have created several WAS before each lesson, their students still find it difficult to start talking in English during class time. Honestly, the researcher is also in the same situation. The WAS which are carried out in the author’s classrooms seem to be useless. The students are not willing to participate in those activities or even after joining the warming up, they show no interest in new speaking lessons. Therefore, how to encourage students to speak English and feel free to participate in speaking activities is the worry of many teachers including the author. Facing such a problem, the author wants to know the reasons behind her students’ unwillingness of participation in WAS and find out the possible solutions. Based on students’ perception of WAS, the author will redesign 1 some activities, then, apply them in to her speaking classes to observe the result. Keeping those intentions in mind, the author has conducted a research entitled “Using Warm-up Activities to Improve the Students’ Speaking Skills: an Action Research Project at Dong Nai Technology University” to enhance the efficiency of using WAS and increase students’ involvement in speaking classes. 1.2 Aims of the study The thesis has been done with the hope that it can contribute to the improvement in teaching English in general and in teaching speaking skills in particular. The thesis aims: - To discover the students’ perception of English speaking. - To find out the students’ attitude toward WAS in English speaking lessons. - To investigate the effectiveness of redesigned WAS on students’ speaking skills. 1.3 Research questions This study is implemented to find answers to the following research questions:  What do students think of English speaking?  What are students’ attitudes toward warm – up activities in English speaking lessons?  How do revised warm – up activities support students in improving English speaking skills? 1.4 Scope of the study 2 The study was carried in the third term of the school year 2018 – 2019 with the participation of 43 non – English majored freshmen at DNTU in Dong Nai. This group of students had learned an English course with the researcher; however, they had very bad speaking skills with unknown reasons. The WAS in this study were chosen and revised according to the students’ opinions. 1.5 Significance of the study Once this study has been completed, it is expected that it will help the teacher discover the problems behind her students’ failed performances in speaking lessons. Then, basing on students’ opinion, the teacher can create more suitable WAS to make her speaking lessons more attractive and engaging. This means learners will also feel more appealed to the speaking lessons right at the beginning and be able to enhance their speaking skills. 1.6 Research methods The study based mainly on the pre – test, post – test, survey questionnaires, observations. Two sets of questionnaires were designed and delivered to students at the beginning of the course and after each speaking lesson. The observation forms were filled during two cycles. The pre – test was done at the beginning of the course and the post – test was in the end of the course. The collected data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. 1.7 Structure of the study The study consists of five chapters: Chapter 1 – Introduction: The first chapter gives reasons for choosing the thesis, scope and aims of the study as well as the research method and the structure of the study. 3 Chapter 2 – Literature Review: This chapter focuses on an overview of nature of language skills and oral communication, speaking skill, Action Research as well as previous studies on using WAS to improve or develop students’ speaking skills. Chapter 3 - Methodology: This chapter reports the context settings, research hypothesis, participants, instruments and the procedure of conducting Action Research for the study. Chapter 4- Findings and Discussion: This part deals with the data analysis from the Action Research results to make the foundation for the activities recommended in Chapter 5. Chapter 5 – Conclusion: This chapter summarizes the study and suggests some practical tips for teachers to stimulate students’ speaking skills when using warm – up activities. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are also included in this chapter. 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Nature of language skills and oral communication 2.1.1 Nature of language skills It is known that language skills involve four inter – related skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Speaking and writing involve production part of user, which is why they are called productive skills. Listening and reading are receptive skills. In fact, learning a foreign language is practicing the four language skills. Therefore, in order to master a foreign language, learners must have an adequate mastery of all the four skills mentioned above. 2.1.2 Oral communication Communication between human is a complex process. One of the communication forms is oral communication which is realized by using oral skills. According to Ricky W. Griffin, “Oral communication takes place in face – to – face conversations, group discussions, telephone calls and other circumstances in which spoken word is used to express the meaning.” Thanks to oral communication, humans can express and understand each other. Likewise, it is through oral communication students can express themselves, acquire new concepts, exchange ideas and experience the joy of using language to build their own new knowledge. 5 2.2 Speaking skills 2.2.1 Concepts of speaking There are various definitions of the word “speaking” which are suggested by many language researchers all over the world. Brown (1994) and Burns & Joyce (1997) define that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. It means that speaking does not include only saying but understanding and replying to the other speaker in a conversation. Bygate (1987) defined speaking as the production of auditory signals to produce different verbal responses in listeners. It is regarded as combining sounds systematically to form meaningful sentences. Florez (1999), Howarth (2001), and Abd El Fattah Torky (2006) defined speaking as a two – way process including a true communication of opinions, information, or emotions. This view regards the spoken texts as the collaboration between two or more persons in the shared time and the shared context. In conclusion, speaking is an interactive process between speakers and listeners. Both speakers and listeners must cooperate, exchange and understand each other’s opinions in the same context and period of time. 2.2.2 The importance of speaking Children normally learn to speak before they know how to read and write. In one of her studies, Rivers (1981) researched the use of language outside the classroom situation and found that speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing combined. In anyway, human beings take more time to interact with language orally rather than writing it. Speaking is the most 6 significant skill because it is one of the needed abilities to carry out a conversation. Moreover, the importance of speaking is indicated with the combination of other language skills. Speaking helps students enhance their grammar knowledge, enrich their vocabulary and then perfect their writing skill. Learners can express their own feelings and ideas, tell stories, make requests, discuss and show a variety of language functions. Outside the classroom, in addition, speaking also plays a crucial role. Baker and Westrup (2003) said that learners who speak English very well can have greater chance for better education, finding good jobs, and getting promotion. In addition, previous researchers show that students cannot learn a language without having chances for repetition. The opportunities to produce the language in meaningful oral tasks provide the practice which is really essential to internalizing the language. Asher (2003) supported the idea that very soon after teachers model the language, learners like to imitate what have been said. Krashen (1988) examined the relation between listening and speaking skills. He found that when students speak, their speaking shows that they have acquired the language. Speaking is crucial to support students’ ability to apply the language when they learn English. Speaking skill has played an important role in the success of human beings because it always happens in daily life communication. Speaking is an interactive activity and it occurs under the real time constraints. Speaking skill enables individuals to produce sentences for the real communication, in other words they actually like to communicate in language to get specific objectives (McDonough & Shaw, 1993). 7